Soybean Planting?

deer patch

Well-Known Member
Who has planted soybeans with a No Till Drill and what success have you had? I know we are just starting to get into hunting season but I am already thinking about next year.
 
I've planted a lot with a no till drill. Success has been spotty. This past summer I planted early into good moisture and got quick germination. Then it turned cold and wet and the beans stalled. The deer wiped them out even in fields of 10 acres. Whereas in 2016 I planted beans and the weather worked perfect and my beans looked like what a farmer grows. Thought I had broke the code.

As a comparative this past summer I also planted a mix of beans, cow peas, sunn hemp ,buckwheat and sunflowers. They were fantastic and in fact are still going strong. As of now I no longer plan to plant straight beans but rather go with the mix.

Whatever I plant in the spring goes into a roller crimped thatch of rye and radishes.
 
As a comparative this past summer I also planted a mix of beans, cow peas, sunn hemp ,buckwheat and sunflowers. They were fantastic and in fact are still going strong. As of now I no longer plan to plant straight beans but rather go with the mix.

That is basically Whitetail Institute Power Plant, which I planted this year and it did awesome. I plan to mix my own next year like you.
 
I've planted a lot with a no till drill. Success has been spotty. This past summer I planted early into good moisture and got quick germination. Then it turned cold and wet and the beans stalled. The deer wiped them out even in fields of 10 acres. Whereas in 2016 I planted beans and the weather worked perfect and my beans looked like what a farmer grows. Thought I had broke the code.

As a comparative this past summer I also planted a mix of beans, cow peas, sunn hemp ,buckwheat and sunflowers. They were fantastic and in fact are still going strong. As of now I no longer plan to plant straight beans but rather go with the mix.

Whatever I plant in the spring goes into a roller crimped thatch of rye and radishes.
Baker - is your decision to only plant the mix in the future based on soil building or observed attractiveness to deer, or something else?
 
I've planted a lot with a no till drill. Success has been spotty. This past summer I planted early into good moisture and got quick germination. Then it turned cold and wet and the beans stalled. The deer wiped them out even in fields of 10 acres. Whereas in 2016 I planted beans and the weather worked perfect and my beans looked like what a farmer grows. Thought I had broke the code.

As a comparative this past summer I also planted a mix of beans, cow peas, sunn hemp ,buckwheat and sunflowers. They were fantastic and in fact are still going strong. As of now I no longer plan to plant straight beans but rather go with the mix.

Whatever I plant in the spring goes into a roller crimped thatch of rye and radishes.

Im sure you've answered in earlier posts,but.......where did you buy your crimper?

Was it difficult to adapt to the front end of your tractor?

Thanks,
bill
 
I've had great success planting with a no til planter (not drill). I would venture to say the only difference is row spacing???

Wish I wouldn't have sold that thing with the farm :(
 
I plant with a wood’s seeder - and it does great with soybeans. I know that isnt no-till. I planted eagle seed beans this spring. Hogs ate 90% of the seed before germination and the few that did grow were eaten by deer within a week. I replanted a month later with Tecomate Lablab plus just to try and salvage the field. It is a mix of lablab, cowpeas, milo, and sunflower. The hogs didnt touch the seed. I think every seed came up. It is a jungle. There is some twelve ft tall coffee bean in there and some of the peas have climbed to the top of them. It is a jungle - but, I cant see where a single leaf has been eaten. And plenty of deer in the area.

E466DD99-971B-45A1-952D-54821F4B2C3A.jpeg
 
No till soybeans are great with a no-till drill. Planted many plots with them and many, many acres of ag beans are planted that was also. What will you be planting into?


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Im sure you've answered in earlier posts,but.......where did you buy your crimper?

Was it difficult to adapt to the front end of your tractor?

Thanks,
bill
I & J dealer out of Kansas best I remember. I get get details if interested. Was easy to build attachment jig for FEL.
 
Baker - is your decision to only plant the mix in the future based on soil building or observed attractiveness to deer, or something else?
A little bit of both but mostly because so much tonnage of food was created. That said i have found the sunn hemp to be a terrific soil builder adding organic matter and fixing lots of N. It grows 10-12' and very drought hardy. The cowpeas trellis up them creating a jungle. Very attractive to deer.
 
I had good success this year with my no till drill. Blocked off every other tube for a 14" spacing. Kept a tight spacing because I suspected the deer would be hard on them. The deer hammered them but that isn't the drills fault.
 
So many great responses and great looking pictures. Looks like if a person gets timely rain this can be done with no problem. What row spacing does everyone plant at and at what pound per acre? I have several brands of no-till drills available in my area and all plant at 7" spacing but it is easy to block off rows if needed.

I learned a long time ago not to plant just one crop. Now I mix several types of seeds together and plant but it would be sweet to have a soybean field like Kwood posted.

Smallplot...I will be planting into my fall plantings which is wheat,oats, PPT, daikon radish and white clover. I have the capability to terminate if needed. I will do a soil test early enough to fix any deficiencies if needed which in the past my soil test show good results. BTW never heard of no till soybeans. Care to explain?
 
So many great responses and great looking pictures. Looks like if a person gets timely rain this can be done with no problem. What row spacing does everyone plant at and at what pound per acre? I have several brands of no-till drills available in my area and all plant at 7" spacing but it is easy to block off rows if needed.

I learned a long time ago not to plant just one crop. Now I mix several types of seeds together and plant but it would be sweet to have a soybean field like Kwood posted.

Smallplot...I will be planting into my fall plantings which is wheat,oats, PPT, daikon radish and white clover. I have the capability to terminate if needed. I will do a soil test early enough to fix any deficiencies if needed which in the past my soil test show good results. BTW never heard of no till soybeans. Care to explain?

The white clover will canopy early and likely cause issues without terminating. Having said that here is a link to one of my vids that shows no-tilling soybeans into sod. It was a little wet when I did this.


And for what I ended up with.


For a food plot 7inch rows are about optimum as it helps canopy over quicker but I have found planting at 80 pounds per acre you still have good pod production with pretty good number of plants per square foot.



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I think I should add that I planted RR beans partly to address a persistent wire grass issue. That seems to have worked out.

Also I have interseeded with rape and radish to make up for the lack of beans. That went well also. I have had zero luck with turnips so I don't bother anymore.
 
Smallplot...Thanks for the Videos and the feedback. I knew about clover being a problem so I will check this spring before planting and will do what is needed. I take it you have planted for many years and have tweaked to 80 pds being optimum?

Foragefarmer...I will also overseed with some kind with turnips if the soybeans make it. Some years we get plenty of rain and sometimes not so much. If the plot fails I will just plant my fall crops as I do every year.
 
7f74af6bd0a4c48b391d7eae3fe45b0f.jpg
no till for 3 years now. Best thing we did


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Smallplot...Thanks for the Videos and the feedback. I knew about clover being a problem so I will check this spring before planting and will do what is needed. I take it you have planted for many years and have tweaked to 80 pds
I think if you watch the video you will see the difference between two different planting rates. While the difference, to me is drastic anyway, they are the same beans just at different rates as a side by side comparison. You will see there is little difference in weed pressure but in pods per acre if you are wanting pod consumption it can mean a lot.

I should also point out that soybeans them self can be wiped out at the early stages if not fenced or protected. It is a learning experience that one needs to see the results of exclusion cages to believe.
 
I've had great success planting with a no til planter (not drill). I would venture to say the only difference is row spacing???

Wish I wouldn't have sold that thing with the farm :(

Seed depth and spacing isn't as good, even with a true no till drill, plus you have to up your population quite a bit with a drill. We plant 140,000 population with a planter, most with drills are 180-200,000. Basically a drill is nothing but a box with a bunch of holes in it, all the meter does is slow down the stream. Ive yet to see a field of drilled beans look and come up as evenly as with a planter, as far as yield, that's a matter of opinion.

Just my $.02 as a "professional" farmer lol
 
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